Door opener



c. M. scHl-:LL 2,889,787

DOOR OPENER June 9, 1959 Filed March '7. 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 "4 .5g f ,l

l y M f l l INVENTOR.

H l5 ATTORNEY June 9, 1959 c. M. scHELl. 2,889,787

DOOR OPENER Filed March 7, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

H IS ATTORNEY BYCbr 772 Schell DOOR OPENER Carl M. Schell, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Dela-i wareV Application March 7, 1957, Serial No. 644,6@

1 Claim. (Cl. 109--63.5)

This invention relates to an improvement in emergency door openers and particularly to such openers for refrigerator cabinets.

At the present time refrigerator cabinet doors are large and heavy. This adds to the hazard of children being trapped in a food storage chamber of a refrigerator cabinet because even if a trapped child can find an interior emergency means within the chamber for unlatching the door latch the door is difficult to be pushed open. Also in the case of a refrigerator cabinet being discarded or abandoned and turned on its back in a junk yard or salvage dump a child becoming trapped therein does not possess sutlicient strength to raise the door from its closed abutting position against the cabinet. Since the child is unable to escape from the chamber in the cabinet he or she may, if fresh air cannot enter the chamber, be sutfocated. I therefore contemplate the improvement in the art of providing emergency storing means in a refrigerator cabinet that will upon being tripped overcome the latchingforce of a spring pressed .latch for the door thereof and swing the door open from its closed abutting or sealing position against the cabinet .to admit air to the chamber therein whereby a child trapped in this chamber will not be suocated even .though he or she is incapable of escaping therefrom withlout assistance.

An object of my invention is to provide a refrigera- .tor cabinet with an improved emergency door opening means.

Another object of my invention is lto provide a door opening means for a refrigerator cabinet operable from l.within the cabinet which in addition to unlatching the 1cabinet door also swings the door open.

A further object of my invention is to provide a refrigerator cabinet with an inner operable emergency latch unlatching and door swinging means for a hingedly mounted door on the cabinet separate from and independent of the door latch and which remains stationary during normal opening and/or closing movements of the door from outside the cabinet whereby no strains or wear are imparted `to the emergency means to insure its proper functioning when the occasion arises.

A still further and more specific object of my invention is to provide in a refrigerator cabinet anenergy storing means or element in the form of a spring which is held compressed by a detent member releasable by trigger means operable by a child from within the chamber of `the cabinet for freeing the element whereby energy stored therein acts between the cabinet and the chamber door to overcome `the biasing shut effect of the door latch and to forcefully swing the door open about its hinged mounting.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a front view of a household refrigerator cabinet having my invention incorporated therein;

Figure 2 is a front view of the refrigerator cabinet disclosed in Figure 1 with its door open'showing a door releasing trigger bar extending along the inner face of the door;

Figure 3 is an enlarged horizontal fragmentary broken sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2 but showing the refrigerator door closed and latched against the cabinet;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 4 4 of Figure 3 showing a spring pressed plunger in the closed refrigerator cabinet door with the spring thereof locked in a compressed position and storing energy therein; and

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 showing the.v

spring pressed plunger released with the refrigerator door being swung to an open position relative to the refrigerator cabinet.

In order to illustrate my invention I show in Figure l of the drawings a refrigerating apparatus comprising a household refrigerator cabinet structure or member 10 having outer metal panels or shells 11 and a metal liner 12 with insulating material disposed therebetween (see Figure 3) to provide walls of a food storage chamber 14 therein (see Figures 2 and 3). Chamber 14 is provided with a front access opening and a door structure or member 16 normally abuts against cabinet member 10 to close the chamber opening. The door member 16 .includes inner and outer pans or panels 17 and 1 8 respectively secured together in any suitable or conventional manner with wrapped or packaged insulating material 19 disposed therebetween (see Figure 3). Such doors are large, bulky and rather heavy as compared to uninsulated doors. Door 16 is pivotally mounted upon cabinet 1) by suitable hinges 21 for swinging movement rela? tive thereto to provide access to the interior of chamber 14. The door i6 may have a part thereof disposed within the throat or collar portion of the chamber access opening and has another portion overlapping a part of the door jamb of cabinet 10. A resilient compressible gasket 22 is secured to the overlapping portion of door16 and extends therearound for sealingly engaging a shouldered front part of cabinet 10 to close the food storage' chamber 14 in substantially an air-tight manner. A mechanically actuated spring pressed latch mechanism having a keeper and keeper engaging means is located on cabinet 10 and on door 16 at the side thereof opposite hinges '21. The latch is of the type which is operated to open the door 16 in response to pulling on a stationcabinet.

arily mounted exteriorly accessible handle 23 (see Figure l) on door 16 and without actuating the handle.

Broadly such latches are old in the art and `the latch f and assigned to the assignee of the present applicatiom The latch mechanism is tripped upon forcibly swinging door 16 closed to latch or 4lock the door in that position f in abutment with a front portion of cabinet 10 and aspring in the 4mechanism biases the door against the Y A refrigerating system associated with cabinet 10 includes a first refrigerant evaporator (not shown) in a freezing compartment, which is closed or concealedby a door 27, a second sheet metal plate-like refrigerant evaporator 28 mounted in chamber 14, adjacent its back wall, for cooling the interior thereof and a refrigerant'f translating device including a motor-compressor-condenser unit (not shown) located in the lower portion of cabinet 1d. The evaporators are connected to one another and to the refrigerant translating device by suitable conduits and a conventional thermostatic means responsive to refrigeration demands within the fc-od storage chamber 14 may be provided for starting and stopping the motor of the refrigerant translating device as is well-known in the art.

In order to accomplish the objects of this invention I provide an energy storing means on one of the structures or 16 and preferably within the door 16 which is releasable from inside chamber 14 for forcibly opening the door even when it is latched shut against cabinet 1i). This means is separate from and independent of the door latching mechanism 24 and 26 and the handle 23 and is generally represented by the reference numeral 39 in Figure l of the drawings. The means St) is located on the latch side of cabinet 10 so as to be readily effective td unlatch door 16 and swing same open. A hollowedout metal reinforced striking portion 29 (see Figures 2 and 3) is provided along the door jamb for receiving the force of the energy storing means 30. Referring now to Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings the energy storing means comprises a coil spring element 31 located within a movable plunger 32 mounted in a tubular-like housing 33 welded or otherwise suitably secured to a circular boss portion 34 of a metal bracket 36. Housing 33 has a slot 37 cut therein and this slot receives a projection 38 stationarily secured to plunger 32 and serves to provide for reciprocation of this projection therein and consequently plunger 32 within housing 33 without rotation thereof relative thereto. Spring 31 is normally held or locked under compression, in the position shown in Figure 4, by a connecting part 39 of a substantially U-shaped detent lever or member 40 having legs 41 pivotally mounted, as by screws 42, to spaced apart ears 43 provided on bracket 36 so as to store up and maintain energy in the spring element. It is to be noted that one end of spring 31 bears against the closed end of plunger 32 and its other end bears aginst the wall portion of circualr part 34 of bracket 36. Bracket 36 may be secured to the outer metal pan or panel 18 of door structure 16 or it may be locked within this door at the point door pans 17 and 18 are firmly clamped to one another. Trigger means, operable from within the chamber 14 of cabinet 1G, is provided for releasing detent member or lever 40 from projection 38 so as to free spring element 31. This trigger means includes a bar 46 spaced from the inner pan or panel 17 of door 16 (see Figure 4) and extending horizontally across the door (see Figures 2 and 3). Bar 46 has legs 47 at its ends projected through openings or slots 48 provided in door panel 17 and the legs 47 are pivotaily mounted on brackets 49, by pins or the like 51, secured to the inner surface of panel 18 of door 16. A heat insulating washer 52, carried by each of the legs 47 of bar 46, moves with the bar and slides along door pan 17 to at all times close the slots 4S (see Figure 4). Any suitable or conventional means may be employed to hold the washers snugly against door panel 17 to reduce heat leakage into the door structure 16. One leg 47 of bar 46 has an end 53 extended beyond the pivotal mounting, pin S1, bent and projected into an elongated slot 54 provided in the legs 41 of lever detent member 40 (see Figures 3 and 4). This end 53 of the one leg 47 of bar 46 is the trigger portion of the trigger means herein disclosed and it is to` be understood that when the end 53 of leg 47 of the bar is swung about the pivot pin 51 it releases the con necting part 39 of detent lever member 40 from the projection 38.

`Before proceeding with the description of the operation and function of my emergency door opening means I wish to point out that a pull force applied to handle 23 on door 16 of between fifteen and seventeen pounds is required to overcome the spring in the door latching mechanism 24 which biases the door closed. Thus the energy storing means or spring 31 in the present disclosure may be of a type or strength that will, upon being compressed, store up between twenty-five and thirty-tive pounds of energy depending upon the intensity of force desired to be applied between the door 16 and cabinet 10 to overcome or unlatch the latch mechanism 24 and swing door 16 open. This however is not critical to the present invention because of the ease with which bar 46 can be moved and the short distance of movement thereof required to trip the datent lever member 40 away from the plunger projection 38. The ease of movement of detent lever 40 is due to its pivot point being substantially in a straight line with the part 39 thereof and of this line paralleling the spring pressed plunger 32. Therefore spring 31 may, if desired, ce much heavier and capable when compressed oi storing energy therein in excess of that just mentioned. The energy storing element or spring 31 is normally cocked or locked under compression, by the lever detent member 49, in the position thereof as shown in Figure 4 of the rawings so as to be idle during opening and closing movements of door 16 by handle 23 from exteriorly of cabinet 18 for removing foods from chamber 14 or placing food products therein. Thus there is no wear of parts of my emergency door opening means in the normal use of the refrigerator cabinet 10 and parts thereof are preserved and rcadied to come into play when the occasion for use of the emergency means presents itself.

Assuming nov.' that refrigerator cabinet 10 is to be abandoned or junked and all the expensive or reusable elements in the refrigerator such, for example, as the shelves in the food storage chamber 14 thereof have been removed or detached from the cabinet. This leaves a space in chamber 14 of sufficient area to receive a child which child may playfully desire to enter the cabinet and hide from other children. Should a child enter chamber 1e of the abandoned or discarded refrigerator cabinet 10 and be trapped therein, by the door 16 closing behind the child or by another child closing the door, it is a natural instinct of the trapped child to endeavor to push on the latched shut door or to find something along the door to grasp a hold on so as to brace his or her body against a wall of the chamber while pushing on the door. The bar 46 of the trigger means in the present disclosure is readily found, since it is spaced from the inner face 17 of door 16 and extends continuously substantially from one side to the other side thereof, when a trapped child gets excited or becomes panicky and gropes around in the chamber with his or her hands or feet and is easily triggered. For example a trapped child upon grasping bar 46 and pushing thereon from within chamber 14 will pivot this bar about its pivotal mounting pins 51 and swing the end 53 of the one leg thereof in a counter clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 4 of the drawings. This causes end S3 to move in slot 54 against walls of this slot and such movement cams the connecting part 39 of detent lever member 40 upwardly out of engagement with the projection 38 on the spring pressed plunger 32. Movement of this trigger means, from within chamber 14 for releasing detent member 40, suddenly frees the energy storing means or spring 31 and this spring forcibly bangs the end of plunger 32, with a hammer-like blow, against the reinforced door jamb portion 29 of cabinet 10. The force of spring 31 in addition to being intense enough to trip the spring pressed latch mechanism 24 and 26 to unlatch door 16 from cabinet l@ also causes the door to swing relative to the cabinet into an open position with respect thereto (see Figure 5). Thus the energy storage means or spring 31 of my emergency door opener acts between door 16 and a portion of cabinet 10 on the latch side of the cabinet, where the spring 31 and its p-lunger 32 are more eifective, to permit the escape of a child trapped in chamber 14. In case cabinet 10 is lying on its back the tripped energy storing means will at least unlatch door 16 to move gasket 22 away from sealing engagement with the cabinet and permit fresh air to enter chamber 14 and prevent sulocation of the child trapped in the chamber.

Should bar 46 be accidentally moved during normal use of the refrigerator in preserving food products in a home to trip the emergency door opener its energy storing means or spring 31 can be recompressed and recocked by forcibly depressing plunger 32 into its housing 33. Recocking of the spring 31 can readily be done by using the end of a handle on a screw driver or small hammer for pushing plunger 32 into the housing 33. This forces projection 38 past the connecting part 39 of detent 40 whereafter the weight of the tripping means, bar 46 and its legs 47, will shift the end S3 of the one leg 47 of bar 46 upwardly within the slot 54 of lever detent 40 and permit the part 39 thereof to move, under its own weight, down in the path of and over the end of the projection 38 to cock spring 31 in its compressed position as shown in Figure 4.

From the foregoing it should be apparent that I have provided an improved and effective emergency door opener for substantially air-tight enclosures such as refrigerator cabinets. My improvement particularly assists in eliminating the hazard of likelihood of children upon becoming trapped in a discarded refrigerator cabinet from being suifocated and provides means to effect escape of a child trapped in the chamber of a refrigerator. By the use of a latch on the refrigerator which does not lock the door shut and require manual movement of a latch handle but merely biases the door into closed position against the cabinet a trippable energy storing emergency means which overcomes the door biasing latch and swings the door open has a double purpose. In addition to the spring pressed plunger overcoming the biasing force of a door latch, in the case of emergency, as hereinbefore described banging noise created by releasing such a plunger, during use of the refrigerator in a home to preserve food products, also serves to provide a warning device for a housewife to indicate to her that children have played with and Ireleased the emergency means whereupon the refrigerator cabinet door will stand open thus resulting in loss of refrigeration. The housewife or her husband can thereupon use the act of recocking the energy storage means as a practical example in teaching the children that they should not fool or play with this emergency means on the refrigerator if foods or drinks, which the children enjoy to consume, are to be kept at a proper preserving and palatable temperature.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted as may come within the scope of the claim which follows.

What is claimed is as follows:

In a refrigerator having a cabinet member provided with a door member and a latch of the type which is released merely by applying a pull on the door member; mechanism for opening said latched shut door member comprising; means on one of said members capable of storing a door pushing energy therein of sucient force to forcefully release said latch and open said door member; said means comprising a guide cylinder extending transversely of said door member, a plunger slidably supported in said guide cylinder and movable toward said cabinet member, and a spring urging said plunger outwardly; said pushing energy storing means being separate from the door latch; a detent releasably holding said plunger retracted against said spring in a stationary cocked door pushing energy storing position during normal unlatching opening and latching closed movements of said door member; a trigger on said door member movable therewith and relative thereto for said detent; an actuator on said door member for said trigger projecting from the inner face of the door member and extending substantially across the full Width of said door into said cabinet member and constituting the sole means for moving said detent and releasing said pushing energy storing means, while said door member is latched shut, whereby to apply the pushing energy of said means between portions of said members to forcefully push the door member away from the cabinet member into an open position; and said pushing energy storing means being accessible from exteriorly of said cabinet member when released and manually resettable into said cocked position thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 911,176 Stevenson Feb. 2, 1909 2,094,413 Schonitzer Sept. 28, 1937 2,315,337 Katz Mar. 30, 1943 2,612,372 Jamison Sept. 30, 1952 2,659,115 Anderson Nov. 17, 1953 2,659,118 Anderson Nov. 17, 1953 2,733,090 Coplen Jan. 31, 1956 2,778,326 Guzik Jan. 22, 1957 2,783,722 Fletcher Mar. 5, 1957 2,786,700 Slopa Mar. 26, 1957 2,790,665 Vanderveld Apr. 30, 1957 2,811,119 Ferdon Oct. 29, 1957 

